It's All In How You Play The Game
by kaotic312
Summary: Wind beats shadows and Sand covers all. It's a game no one wants to lose, but which one knows the rules? ShikaTem and definate other pairing as well. Updated and Complete. Please read and review!
1. A Ramen Mission

Hey! This is a first fanfic for me, so for any errors I apologize and please let me know about them. I have no idea what "flames" are but going from the context, I don't want any please.

Please review!

Oh and: I don't own Naruto, and if I did he'd only escape anyway.

**IT'S ONLY A GAME, RIGHT?**

**Chapter 1:A Ramen Mission**

It started out simple enough, like these things usually did. Temari was in town to observe at the Academy since Suno had started training based on the Konoha ways. While Kankuro had only arrived this afternoon with a message scroll for the Fifth Hokage. They had met up and having decided that neither wanted to cook, had picked up a meal, deciding to eat outside an apartment the village kept for visitors. They'd only started to lay out the food when they were spotted.

"Ohayo guys!" Naruto yelled.

"Guys?" Temari growled.

"You can't kill him, Sister. Think of the treaty." A sobering thought. The last treaty between the Leaf and Sand villages had been broken by betrayal. And they'd been the centerpiece of that betrayal. The fact that they'd been tricked and deceived had salved the way with the Leaf villagers, but Temari still felt the bitter sting. Orochimaru had killed her father and his advisors, setting himself up as the Kazekage. An imposter. Impersonating her own father and sending her and her brothers out on a mission that betrayed the honor of her and her village. _And she'd never even suspected._

Naruto came bounding up with energy to spare, forcing Temari's sharp smile to soften into the real thing. Annoying as he might be, she owed him. Her brother Gaara had not been the same since their fight, in a good way. With him was Sakura, who calmly finished walking over even as Naruto was already rocking back on his heels, his hands behind his head.

"Whacha doing?"

Temari held up the packets of food. "Guess."

Kankuro opened one the packets up and steam rolled off the buns.

"Oi! You don't want those!"

Kankuro stopped with a bun nearly at his mouth. "Poison?" Temari stared, surely not. The attitudes in the village had subsided considerably toward her on her official visits, she even had made a few friends. Things had gotten especially good after she and her brothers had been sent out by the Hokage to help on that mission to retrieve Sasuke. And then again after the leaf shinobi's help rescuing one of Gaara's students.

"Nah. Just, there's better places to get food around here. Especially ramen!"

"Oh!" Kankaro stuffed the bun into his mouth and chewed. Actually it tasted quite good. Temari _tsked_ him as she calmly picked up her chopsticks to eat her dinner.

"Not everyone is ramen-obsessed like you are." Sakura lightly chided her companion. "Although, Naruto is right for once." Sakura smiled kindly as she eyed the name of the café they'd purchased the meal from.

Temari knew that the girl had been studying under the Fifth Hokage's personal mentorship, and while you couldn't _see_ much of a difference … it was there in the way she carried herself. A little straighter, more confident. Temari liked the change, she _hated_ girls who fell on the ground at the feet of guys. She shifted a bit uncomfortably as a certain leaf chuunin chose that moment to walk by. He wouldn't have stopped, she could tell, except that Naruto called him over. Maybe she had more than one reason to be grateful to the young blonde.

"Ossu." That was all he said. That was it, nothing more. And yet Temari's hackles rose and she wanted to say something, anything that would get a stronger reaction out of the young shinobi.

"Hey Shikamaru!" Said Naruto. "Tell these Sandies that there are better places to get food around here than this!"

"Sandies?" Temari put a hand on Kankuro's arm before he could move far. She mouthed "_treaty_". Kankuro curled his lips and settled back on the bench.

"Prove it." Temari spoke to Naruto, but in her peripheral vision was Shikamaru. He was standing there calmly, looking bored and slightly irritated to even BE in a conversation at all.

"Ok!" Naruto jumped up.

"No!" Sakura yelled, pulling Naruto back by the back of his jacket collar. "We don't all want ramen and you couldn't afford to buy enough for everyone."

"Oh yeah, sorry, forgot about that". Naruto sheepishly turned red, rubbing his foot in the ground. He'd forgotten that his frog wallet was currently flat and deflated looking. And it had all been ero-sensei's fault too. Again.

Temari felt the moment as it hit. The moment that this meeting would dissolve and everyone would go their own way. She didn't mind if everyone else wandered off, but she felt a strange dropping in her stomach at the thought of Shikamaru walking away. Calmly, with the smallest wave so as not to waste a motion where one wasn't needed he'd walk away and that would be that.

"You're on!" She grinned brightly, making Kankuro blink and nearly knocked him off the bench as she rushed up from her seat and handed Naruto some money. "Go for it kid, get enough for all of us and bring it back hot. I want to see how good this favorite food of yours can be."

"Huh?" Naruto looked down at the money, and then a big grin spread across his face. "Yeah! A mission! A RAMEN MISSION!" Then there was only a cloud of dust and the back of an orange uniform.

Kankuro stared at his sister in utter shock. Temari _never_ parted with money voluntarily. Oh, for weapons sure, but not like, nothing like this. And he'd not thought she liked ramen all _that_ much. Whatever happened to the girl who would 'conveniently' forget to bring any money, making her brothers always pick up the tab?

"Ohayo."

Temari turned and saw Neji and Hinata walking up toward them. Hinata's eyes were following the departure of the orange clad shinobi with a wistful expression. "Where is Naruto-kun going?"

Sakura laughed as she explained the situation and the "mission" to them as they joined the small group.

Neji grimaced. "Ramen? What you need to try is some of our nimono (simply means a stewed dish), forget the ramen. The best is served at our clan's complex though. The cooks are supurb."

Kankuro grinned, "Yeah, prove it."

Neji blinked.

Sakura suddenly grinned. "A party!" Hinata and Sakura laughed while Neji and Shikamaru suddenly looked panicked. Kankuro rushed over to plot with the two girls, always up for any kind of gathering, especially one involving food. Temari observed everyone, calculating.

"No, Temari can't buy all the food, it wouldn't be fair." Temari blinked as she overheard part of the conversation. She hadn't made that offer had she?

"Neji'll go get a pot of whatever Cook has been making, there's always plenty." Hinata said, then turned to Neji with a pleading look. He knew that look. He knew better than to fall for that … that …

"I'll do that if you bring tea and rice balls." Now, _why_ had he agreed to this? Oh yeah, his cousin's sad eyes. Hinata had been terribly sad lately. Her father had removed her from inheriting because she wasn't strong enough, leaving her younger sister heir to the Main Family. Not to mention that Naruto wasn't paying her much attention, as usual, and he was due to leave shortly for an extended training period with the Toad Sage. A party might cheer her up, and if that was the case he'd go along.

"Shikamaru! Go grab Choji and Ino and pick up what okashi you can muster." Neji ordered even though the younger boy technically outranked him.

Shikamaru grumbled and complained, and everyone ignored him. Everyone except Temari who grinned evilly where only he could see and winked. He stopped and stared. Had she done this on purpose? But why? He turned and glanced at the group and caught Kankuro looking just as puzzled as he felt. Hmmph. Whatever, he turned to leave.

"Crybaby."

Shikamaru stopped and gritted his teeth. He turned his head and lifted one brow, "yes?"

"Well, at least you admit it." She smiled. "Hurry back, this is a hungry group."


	2. A Favor for a Friend

**Chapter Two:A FAVOR FOR A FRIEND**

Everyone else had returned and was setting up their food offerings long before Shikamaru returned. Temari refused to admit it, but she could feel relief ease the tension in her shoulders when he slouched into the small park in front of her visitor quarters. He'd come back after all. Then she saw who he'd brought back with him.

"Ossu." TenTen said in general to the group. They all greeted her and Ino as they came in bearing lots of snacks, both sweet and salty. "Chouji had a family gathering to attend, but I hope you don't mind that I met up with these two?"

Temari managed a nod. She and TenTen had made a small peace truce earlier on one of her previous visits to the Leaf village, but … why had she returned with _her _Shikamaru???? She stared daggers at the back of the pretty Leaf nin as the others greeted her, then realizing what she was doing, turned away with a hard blush. He _wasn't_ hers to be jealous over! Temari scowled, making Kankuro look around nervously for the source of her distress.

"Uh, Sister?" Kankuro whispered, "you alright?"

"Yeah, uhm, sure." Was all she could muster. To distract him, and herself she admitted, she started eating a bowl of the ramen noodles that Naruto was gleefully handing out to his friends. His friends? Startled, she smiled a bit sadly as she looked down at bowl. When had that happened? She had more friends since the aftermath of the chuunin exams than ever before. And these were the people they'd betrayed.

She smiled as she tasted the noodles, surprised at how good it actually tasted. "You know, Naruto, this is pretty good."

"Told ya! Heheheehe!" The young blonde stated happily as he slurped down his own huge portion of ramen.

Temari settled back in the large circle the group had unwittingly created, with all the food in the middle.

Neji looked around and didn't smile, but he did relax. This was … nice. He turned to watch his cousin Hinata as she shyly spoke with Sakura.

"How's she handling it all?" TenTen asked quietly from his left.

Neji shrugged. "Not terribly well. Her training is horrid right now, and she'd been doing so well. The focus is gone." He frowned. He understood Hiashi's decision to put the leadership of the clan in strong hands, but didn't her father realize that Hinata had hidden depths of strength? Hadn't that been obvious from the fight she'd had in the prelims against Neji himself? There had to be a way to get that strength to shine.

"She's too hung up on Naruto." TenTen shook her head. "Ever since she heard he's leaving to train with his new sensei for a couple of years, well, you can see what it's doing to her."

"Hinata either needs to get Naruto to _see_ her, or to give up on him entirely." Neji frowned again, "but how?"

TenTen suddenly grinned. She looked around, counting the party goers. "Leave it to me."

Huh? Neji watched as his teammate made her way over to Ino. Ino? Those two had never been close, what could she possibly have in mind? He watched as the two conspired and whispered, pulling in Sakura … and the wind-user from the Sand. All of a sudden, Neji started to feel really, really nervous.

Ino squealed, "A game! That's what we need, a party game!"

Nervous? Neji almost panicked right then and there.


	3. Dare Me

**Chapter 3:Truth or Dare**

"Truth or Dare?" Naruto grinned. "DARE! DARE! DARE!" The blonde was jumping up and down excitedly in a small circle before Sakura whacked him on the side of the head. "Owwwwwww! Ow!"

"Just wait your turn!" Ino told him as she herded the rest of the group together.

"His turn for what?" The voice startled them all. Everyone turned to look toward the shadows as the young man stepped forward quietly.

"Gaara?" Kankaro and Temari both said, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"Training mission for my student." Gaara replied. "She needs to build up her endurance and tracking abilities."

Everyone turned to look behind him, but he seemed alone.

"Er, where is she?" Temari finally asked as Gaara helped himself to some of the rice balls. What had been pure fun now seemed to have a slight edge to it. Her younger brother had changed a lot since their first visit to Konoha, but still … his potential for violence and death had never really dissipated.

"Visitor dorm. She's exhausted from the trip, thus the need to train." Gaara shrugged, "I saw you all as I was dropping her off."

Neither Kankaro or Temari needed to ask if Gaara was tired. Even if he was, he probably wouldn't sleep soon at all, especially not away from home. His ability to sleep and control the demon within him had improved greatly, but he still didn't sleep much at all.

"DARE! DARE! Pick me! I want a dare!"

Gaara simply stared at Naruto and then looked at the others as if to ask the obvious question.

"It's a game." Temari offered. "You probably wouldn't want to …"

Gaara sat down as if to join them. Kankaro's eyes boggled slightly and then he grinned. Temari caught her breath as the others watched with various expressions of shock, except for Naruto.

"All right! Gaara's in! Let's start. Now!!! I want a dare!"

"Fine," grumbled Sakura. "Ino will start since it was her idea."

"Right. I choose, Sakura!" Naruto groaned loudly.

"Dare."

Ino stared at her a moment and then grinned. "I want to read that book your sensei always has his nose buried inside. Go get it for me."

"Ooooh!" Breathed Naruto. "Good one."

Sakura frowned outwardly, but inside she was grinning. She acted like it would be difficult, but as the Hokage's student she happened to know that Kakashi-sensei was out on an S-rated mission. Finally after much (false) grumbling, she left on her dare.

"Do we have to wait???" Naruto was vibrating with energy.

Ino shrugged, "nah, Sakura will get her turn … if she returns!" She glanced at TenTen and nodded secretively. "TenTen, why don't you go next?"

TenTen smiled and chose "Temari".

The Sand nin looked and acted surprised, but wasn't. This was all part of the plan. TenTen was going to tell her to kiss Naruto on a 'dare', then Temari would pick Ino and repeat the dare. Finally Ino would chose Hinata and dare her to kiss Naruto as well. This would show the girl that it was okay and part of the 'party', not the set-up it really was … if ALL the girls kissed Naruto, then it wouldn't be a huge shock for Hinata. And sending Sakura away was to keep the young man from getting too excited about kissing the _wrong_ girl.Temari pondered the moment, the plan had a lot of holes in it, but … blondie and no idea what was heading his way. She smiled darkly.

"Dare."

"Temari of the Desert, I dare you to kiss …"

During this time, Shikamaru had noticed something. A very small something. A spider dangling barely an inch from TenTen's shoulder. No biggy, he looked around to make sure Shino was nowhere in the vicinity and reached out and squished it.

"Shikamaru!" TenTen gasped as the name left her mouth. She'd only said his name because he'd made a sudden move beside her, startling her. And now … she watched as the young man's eyes widened from shock.

"Ah, that's dumb." Grumbled Naruto.

Kankaro laughed. Gaara stared. And Temari held her breath.

Temari rose a bit unsteadily from her seat and started stalking toward Shikamaru. He thought about running, but in truth, he'd thought about kissing her before but never thought she'd appreciate his advances. Not to mention her homicidal brothers. He silently thanked TenTen to himself although his eyes never left the figure dropping down before him.

She moved into his lap and wrapped her arms around him.

"What are you doing?" He murmured. This was just a kiss right?

"Showing Hinata how it's done." She said, glancing over at TenTen whose shocked face finally gave a weak smile.

"Huh?" That made no sense to him … and then _nothing_ made sense anymore as her lips met his. Her soft lips nudged his as she inhaled his scent. This was Temari? Soft was not how he pictured her. He felt her tongue trace the seam of his mouth and felt the sharp nip of her teeth on his lower lip. Yep, it was Temari.

The two melted into each other. One moment stiff and unsure, the next melded together like a single unit. Their mouths opened and the kiss deepened, Shikamaru's hands wrapped around the Sand nin like he'd never let go.

Hinata blushed beet red and looked everywhere and anywhere else than at the two kissing. Her eyes lit on a confused Naruto and she felt as if she might pass out. She dragged her gaze from the object of her crush and found herself staring at a cold green gaze. Gaara? Why was he staring at her rather than at the shameful display his sister was making? Desperately she tore her gaze from the youngest sand sibling and found everyone was looking around trying not to stare at the couple.

"Oi." Kankaro let out a loud sigh. "When are they coming up for air?"

The silence was broken and everyone laughed. Except for Temari and Shikamaru who were wrapped up together. His hands were playing with her hair while hers wandered his back.

Neji coughed and looked at Gaara, who was staring at Hinata. Why was he …

"Temari?" TenTen poked the wind princess in the back. "It's your turn." She continued poking and only stopped when Temari broke away to growl at her, then moved back to sink into Shikamaru's embrace.

"This is stupid." Naruto finally said. "I want a dare!"

"Go catch a Snipe." Kankaro said snidely.

"What's a snipe?" Naruto asked with excitement visibly running through his eyes.


	4. Sucker

**Chapter 4:Reeling Him In**

Kankaro blinked, looking a bit like an owl with kabuki make-up. "You mean you've never heard of a Snipe hunt?"

_Keep it cool, keep it loose! _Kankaro was struggling hard not to laugh. _Never let the sucker suspect!_

"Nah. What is it? Huh! Hey Kankaro, what is IT???" Naruto was fairly bouncing up and down. Gaara rolled his eyes, but none of the leaf shinobi seemed to know what a 'snipe hunt' was about.

Kankaro sighed dramatically, "well, now. I don't know if I should tell you if you haven't been let in on … uhm, I mean. It's nothing really. Made-up kids stuff and all."

Gaara turned to look at his brother, it wasn't like the puppeteer to let someone gullible off the hook like that.

"NO! You've got to tell me everything, it's not made up or you wouldn't be saying that! Tell me! Huh! KANKARO!"

Gaara snorted and grabbed a few more snacks. So, his brother _was_ baiting Naruto, and now he couldn't be blamed for it since he HAD told Naruto that snipes were nothing more than 'made-up kids stuff'. Hmmph. Playing with people was Kankaro's greatest joy, and Gaara had to admit, he was good at it.

Neji leaned forward, a look of suspicion on his face. The others just looked mildly interested, or in the case of Ino, mildly bored. Even Hinata's attention was caught as the Sand shinobi ate some potato chips as if to avoid the question.

Naruto looked disgusted that he wasn't getting the information he wanted, so instead he turned to "Hey! Shikamaru, have _you_ heard about a snipe hunt?" He figured the chuunin would know about things that genin weren't allowed access too.

There was no response. They all turned to look and saw that Temari and Shikamaru were still kissing. Neji snorted and Hinata blushed, looking away. Gaara scowled and Kankaro threw the balled up chip bag at the leaf shinobi's head.

"Hey! Breathe you two!" He yelled. They ignored him. "And watch those hands or lose them!"

"No fair! I wanna go on a snipe hunt! Kankaro, pllleeeeaaase, what is it????" Naruto begged at nearly full volume.

TenTen sighed loudly, "Oh tell us what in the world a snipe hunt is all about. Just to shut up Naruto, please!" She pretended indifference, but there was a gleam in her eye as she leaned forward to listen.

"Fine." Kankaro sighed. "It's not like it's _that_ important. See, it's like this," And at that, everyone turned to listen as Kankaro explained how 'snipes' were very hard to find creatures that fetched a really, _really_ good price at market. He explained that they were highly valued for their glands which were very pricy ingredients in many medicines. Then he winked at Naruto, "and their meat is supposed to be very tasty in top-notch ramen places. Too expensive for most, a treat beyond measure."

"Ooooh!" Naruto breathed out on a sigh of longing. "Have you ever tried any snipe ramen?"

"Me? Hardly. I've heard that it's the best thing going, but I can't afford meals like that. My only hope is catching one, but that's not easy to do, you know. I've tried."

Neji groaned, "You're making this up, I've never heard of such a thing."

Hinata though sat up, "A-are you sure Neji-kun? I mean, I'm sure Kankaro wouldn't be making up something like this." She smiled unsurely.

"Yeah! Tell us more! I want a snipe!"

Neji shook his head at Naruto, "you're both way off the path here."

"Nah! See, Hinata knows it's true, don't ya Hinata?" Naruto smiled wildly at the shy girl.

Hinata blushed deep red and looked like she might fall over from the direct attention being paid to her. Neji reached over and patted her hand, glaring at Kankaro.

The Sand puppeteer just shook his head, "I don't know what to tell you. It is what it is, and a snipe is real." Then he shrugged, "it doesn't really matter though. They're really difficult to trap and while this is the right kind of country for them to be in at this time of year, I've never seen one."

"How do you hunt one then?" Asked TenTen, whose eyes were gleaming just as much as Naruto's.

Kankaro scratched his chin, avoiding smearing his make-up as he pretended to think. "You have to have at least two people, three or more are better though, covers more ground." He picked up a stick and etched a faint diagram in the ground showing how one person has to hold the sack and stay as still and quiet as possible, and the others in the hunting party had to spread out and make a lot of noise while walking toward the person with the sack.

"You have to flush them out, but you can't just run wildly through the underbrush, you have to use chakra too. That's why they're so hard to catch. You have to use your chakra almost like a rake, except pushing out rather than pulling in."

"Oh! So, you're herding the creature with chakra toward the one holding the sack." TenTen grinned, "but what's so hard about that?"

Kankaro grinned sadly, "It's harder than you think. If you use too much chakra you scare the wildlife, and especially the sensitive snipe, into running in a direction different than what you want. If you don't use enough, then it ignores you. See, snipe are great and I mean GREAT at concealing themselves. They're better than chameleons at 'blending in' and been hard to spot. They're also chakra sensitive. So, if you don't use any chakra, they just disappear into the surrounding areas, but if you herd them with chakra then they go toward the hunter. See?"

TenTen and Naruto both nodded together, completely drawn into the story. Even Ino seemed a bit intrigued. Kankaro looked over at Neji he wasn't surprised that the young Hyuuga didn't seem impressed. But the look on Hinata's face was priceless.

Naruto jumped up in a sheer abundance of vigor and idiocy. "I'm going! Who's with me?"

Neji shrugged, "Naruto, be reasonable no one is going to bel …."

"I'm going Naruto." Everyone stopped and stared. Hinata had just managed to say a whole sentence, and one with Naruto's name, without a single stammer or stutter. Not to mention the eagerness in her voice.

"TenTen-chan?" Hinta asked.

"I'm in!"

Neji sighed, "Well, I guess I'll be joi …"

"Nooo-no, you stay here Neji-kun. We'll be-ee f-ine." The stammer was back, but the excitement remained shining in her smile. Neji shrugged, it wasn't like he thought there was any 'snipe' to hunt and TenTen was going to ride herd. What could it hurt?


	5. What do you see?

**Chapter 5: What Do You See?**

Neji settled back down as he watched, a bit anxiously, his cousin leave with the loud Naruto and his teammate.

Ino waved at him, "Yo. TenTen will keep them in line and they probably won't even get a _look_ at an actually snipe."

_They certainly won't_. Both Gaara and Kankaro thought, one with a sigh and the other with deepest pleasure.

"Now, who's turn is it?"

"Leave it, Ino." Neji grumbled. "There's not enough of us left and it's a stupid game anyway."

Ino snarled lightly, "What do you mean? There's six of us, plenty of …"

"Four of us." Neji interrupted.

Kankaro did a quick head count, "oh well, if you don't count my sister and the DEAD MAN over there, then you're right." He drew up his lips in disgust as he watched his Temari and Shikamaru continue their kissing. Their hands roaming lovingly over each others face and back.

Neji sighed, the puppeteer was missing the point. He was about to let the sand shinobi have a piece of his mind about sending Hinata on a fool's errand when they all sensed someone coming toward them.

Everyone turned, well, except the two currently wrapped up in each others arms as if the world would end if they stopped.

Ino suddenly squeaked and held her nose. Gaara sniffed and his eyes widened marginally. Kankaro cursed and Neji backed away as Sakura returned.

Sakura was a very pretty young lady with pink hair and always meticulously groomed. But right now she looked ….

"What happened????" Ino shrieked as only Ino could.

Sakura slumped down, ragged holes in her over-tunic, steam rising from her hair which appeared to be flat on one side and sticking out in uneven clumps on the other. Her face was green as she breathed through her nose and her hair was bright blue with messy streaks of purple and brown. And the stench.

"Woah." Kankaro breathed out, carefully trying not to smell Sakura. "I think that's killed my appetite."

"Heh." Was all Gaara could manage. He didn't trust himself to speak. He was usually blunt and rude, but to comment seemed disrespectful somehow. And he'd been trying to be better with relating to other people. So he kept his mouth shut and tried not to breathe.

Sakura glared at them all. Then she raised one hand, stained black, and threw a book at Ino with all her might.

"Oooomph!" Was all Ino could manage, not even bothering to duck. "What happened?"

"Damn man has booby traps on EVERYTHING!" Sakura scowled.

Kankaro snorted and then started laughing. Ino quickly joined in, even stoic Neji started to grin and then choked as he tried not to laugh, failing miserably. Only Gaara remained quiet, but there was a hint of a smile – a small one, but still a smile.

"B-bu—but you knew that!" Ino shrieked piercingly.

Kankaro rubbed his ear with a wince and then threw a left-over sticky bun at her. "Wow, your voice is a weapon. Stop that!"

"He's your sensei, didn't you know about the traps?" Neji wheezed out between laughter.

Sakura sniffed, and then made a face as she caught her own stench. "I knew about _most_ of them. Got into the apartment fine. Crossing the main room was fine, few tricky seals, but nothing he hadn't taught us."

Ino snorted, "and then?"

"Damn man had booby-trapped his bookcase." She looked down at herself mournfully, "and I was wearing my new over-tunic too."

"You can't go home like that, your parents will NOT understand." Ino sighed,  
"let's go hit the Academy showers after we stop to let me find you something to wear. My parents are out late, so it'll be easy to get in and out without questions."

Kankaro smiled evilly, "why don't you just take her home then and let her clean up there?"

Ino scowled and threw the bun he'd hit her with back at his head, "'cause I don't want to have that smell in my house!"

"C'mon Ino, and I appreciate your help. It's more than others can do." She looked around glaring at everyone else, catching sight of Temari snuggled tight in Shikamaru's lap.

"Huh?" She pointed. "What's up with _that_. That wasn't part of the plan."

_Plan?_ Thought the three males.

Ino sighed heavily as she stood up, motioning Sakura to follow, "_that's_ getting old." The two disappeared together.

Kankaro whooped and ran toward where the book thrown at Ino had landed. "And then there were five."

"Three."

The Sand puppeteer ignored the Hyuuga as he gleefully began flipping through the pages of the Copy-Ninja's book. "HAH! To me go the spoils, and better yet, if asked I had nothing to do with it. I didn't come up with the game, the dare, or the theft!" He plopped down and started reading.

Gaara sighed and looked at Neji, who was looking right back. They spoke for a while and timed passed as the two compared lives at the Sand and Leaf villages. Politics were discussed, weather, and for quite a while they discussed battle strategies. Each circled carefully around the other. The night grew longer as they fell quiet. The only sounds left were of the two kissing and murmuring to each other and Kankaro turning the occasional page. Every once in a while he'd catch his breath or giggle, but that was about it.

"So."

"So."

Both stopped.

"Why were you looking at Hinata?"

"Why not?" The red-haired shinobi replied. "I did nothing rude." At least he thought not.

"No but …"

"WHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Victory! We did it! WE DID IT!" The boisterous yelling was quickly followed by three dirty and ragged looking individuals. Naruto held up a sack with a wide, WIDE grin.

"We caught a snipe!"

Kankaro's eyes boggled, then he carefully put down the book and turned to stare at Temari and Shikamaru. "You try anything, and I mean ANYTHING from Chapter 3 and I'll torture you before I kill you, Shikamaru." He looked up and then jumped a bit as he realized Naruto and the others were back, "Oi, what have you there?"

"A SNIPE!" Giggled TenTen.

Neji boggled, _TenTen giggled?_ He hadn't known she could even do that.

"Oh it is not!" Kankaro smirked. "There's no such thing."

Naruto held up the sack which was currently moving quite vigorously and making snarling noises. His grin said it all.

Hinata smiled, "It didn't take long at all, although it was dirty work." She wiped at the dust on her jacket.

Kankaro and Neji both got up and looked into the sack, looked up at each other, and then with wide eyes stared back down into the sack.

"What is that?" The sand shinobi asked.

"Never seen it before." Neji whispered.

TenTen giggled again and told them that they'd run into Shizune on the way back to the group and she'd assured them that the creature was indeed hard to catch and quite valuable. "Although the name she used wasn't 'snipe', but something long and weird sounding."

"And she said the meat was poisonous and not good for ramen." Naruto pouted, "But still worth enough to pay us each the equivalent of an A-ranked mission."

Kankaro and Neji eyed one another and then turned to head out. Kankaro stuffed the purloined book into his things and they turned to leave.

Gaara asked quietly, "where are you two going now?"

Kankaro grinned, "if these three could catch one, we can catch three!"

"Indeed." Agreed the Hyuuga. "Coming he asked?"

"No."

"Ah well, don't stare at her anymore. It IS rude." The Hyuuga stated quietly as he left.

Gaara nodded. He waited until the two were well gone before asking the still overly excited trio, "What's really in the bag?".

"That would be my doing." Sakura explained as she rejoined them with the grinning Ino. She'd used the time to clean her hair and was once again dressed nicely, even if Ino's clothing was a bit tight on her. Except her face was still green.

Gaara stared. Apparently she'd not been green from the way she smelled, but from something in the trap itself.

Sakura blushed, "I have to find a way to get this off before Kakashi-sensei gets back."

Ino pulled her away, "let's go ask Kurenai, she can keep a secret. And then we'll get that book and put it back before … Hey! Where'd the book go?" Both girls looked around frantically.

Gaara shrugged. "I'll tell you if you'll tell me about the 'snipe'."

"Genjutsu. We saw these three coming back all down and discouraged and since I _do_ know what a snipe hunt is, decided to turn the tables. Hopefully they'll be out there searching a while." She thought about it, "a LONG while."

"How did you know about the 'snipe hunt'?" He asked. It's a common game in the Sand village, but no one here knew about it at all.

"Oh, well, the Hokage tried it on me last month, but Shizune told me about it before I made a fool out of myself."

Hinata and TenTen dissolved into laughter. "Did you see their faces? Serves them right."

"Now, where's the book?" She asked, her green face serious.

"In Kankaro's things." He said quietly. "Good luck getting it back," he added as an afterthought.

Sakura grumbled. But then brightened, "You probably wouldn't help, but I'll get Temari to do it for me."

"How?" Gaara wondered aloud.

"Blackmail." She said, then raised her voice so the two who were _still_ wrapped up in each other could hear. "I have to have a talk with Shikamaru's mother tomorrow about poisons and antidotes, and who _knows_ what _other _subjects may come up." She smiled at Gaara, "Later."

Gaara looked curiously over at his still romantically occupied sister, wondering. But Temari didn't even respond. He supposed he could tell her tomorrow and together they _might_ stand a chance of prying Kankaro's dead fingers off the smut book.

Naruto was still excited, but Hinata was yawning and TenTen offered to walk with the girl back to her new apartment. Hinata still wasn't used to living on her own, but by all appearances was trying to make a decent go of it all. Her father had told her he'd allow her to keep her apartments in the family's complex, but after he'd removed her as his heir, she'd moved out.

Naruto interrupted them, "Naw, I'll walk Hinata back, it's out of your way TenTen." He pulled the suddenly beaming, and terrified, girl behind him. He bent down on the way out and grabbed a stone, chunking it at Shikamaru's head as he passed.

Expecting the Shikamaru to duck, he stopped suddenly as the rock hit dead center of the chuunin's head. They all turned to stare as the clone _poofed_ out of existence.

"Wow," TenTen muttered. "How long have they been gone?" No one answered. "Better yet, what have they been doing?"

Gaara growled low, "so _that's_ what Neji meant. He knew they were gone."

Naruto shrugged and Hinata blushed, without a word they turned to leave.

TenTen grinned. "Well, maybe the plan worked after all."

Gaara looked at her quizzically, "If the plan was to Naruto and Hinata together, then it failed. Utterly."

"What do you mean? And what did Neji mean by not staring?"

He waved off the question as of no account, "Naruto still doesn't see her, he' just being himself and walking her back. Don't read so much into nothing. And as for Neji, well he just didn't want me looking at his cousin."

TenTen placed her hands on her hips and stared at him. He wondered if she was being rude, or if girls were allowed to stare. "Just why were you staring at Hinata? Are you interested in her?"

"Yes."

TenTen stopped and goggled at him a moment, "ree-ally?" The thought of the shy girl with Gaara, the scariest shinobi she'd ever met, well … it didn't bear thinking about. "No, you're all wrong for each other."

Gaara cocked his head and looked at her. "By interest, did you mean romantic?"

"Well, of course I did." She replied, somewhat snottily in her best Ino imitation.

He only shook his head at her.

"Well, if not a romantic _interest_, then what did you mean?"

"She interests me." He said that as if it was crystal clear. Then sighed when TenTen only shrugged, "She has feelings for Naruto, but nothing ever comes of it because she lacks the confidence in herself to make him see her. Temari and Shikamaru interest me too. They danced around each other and obeyed the 'rules' governing them until tonight's game allowed them a chance to breach those conventions."

TenTen just looked at him in confusion. "But I don't get it, how does all this _interest_ you?"

Gaara took a breath and held it a moment, then slowly released it. "What this all means is that if you want to be romantic with a person then you can't hang back and wait for them to come to you. You have to make them _**see**_ you. And you can't let society keep you from acting or you might miss your chance. Do you see?"

TenTen frowned, "yeess, I guess so."

"No you don't."

She frowned as he stepped into her personal space. His arms were fast as they gathered her close and she realized he'd grown taller since she'd last seen him. They were close to eye level to each other now. He leaned forward and kissed her lightly, letting her decide whether or not to deepen that first touch. She did, and he followed quickly.

As they kissed, TenTen felt the marvel of the moment and sank into an embrace she'd never even considered before. He pulled back and looked at her with a gaze that left her breathless. "I'm not Hinata and I won't be shy and waiting for you. I'm not going to bother letting politics or rules keep me from doing that," he kissed her again, "whenever I want."

She caught her breath and stared at him in utter shock, but could feel her resistance crumbling.

"So, TenTen. Do you _**see**_ me now?


End file.
